US: As part of its Hotel of Tomorrow Project, The Gettys Group has unveiled five hospitality concepts that guests may experience post-Covid-19.
The Hotel of Tomorrow Project is a global think tank consisting of 325 hospitality executives. It’s spearheaded by The Gettys Group, a Chicago-based design, development and consulting firm.
Since June, architects and designers, hotel brands, consultants, developers, operators, suppliers, and tech companies have collaborated online to create, review and test all components of hospitality in response to the challenges facing businesses in the era of Covid-19.
79 ideas were submitted by 16 teams from around the world, and by August these concepts were ready to be shared and tested with consumers. Over 1000 hospitality executives surveyed these concepts, and the result is a final list of those concepts believed to have the most future potential.
In descending order, they are:
• Bed XYZ – an optimised sleep platform devised to enhance the guest room environment. Engineered fabrics control bed temperature and act as filters to improve air quality. Smartphone applications permit guests to control lighting, temperature, humidity, background noise, mattress firmness, and access physical exercise and meditative programmes.
• Outside In, Inside Out – Focusing on lighting, air quality, sound and scents, this concept aims to mitigate the sense of confinement that can occur indoors, particularly for business travellers who often remain on property for long periods of time. It features extensive installations of plant material and nature-driven video imagery.
• Hotel Rover – accommodating up to four people, this self-driving vehicle offers AI-powered digital assistance, guidance and entertainment options available via voice command and touch screens. It’s designed for sleeping as well as transport between partner hotels.
• Journey Pebble – a digital, encrypted wearable that shares a guest’s preferences with the hotel to provide a personalised stay. Hotel staff can utilise the data to meet a guest’s expectations and suggest additional services. A clone of the Journey Pebble will be held behind the front desk for interaction through an AI network, and for staff to promote suitable virtual or face-to-face interactions.
• Robot Alliance – a deployed robot allows guests to drink and dine beyond the confines of the hotel restaurant and bar. Equipped with warming and cooling units and doubling as dining surfaces, the robots allow guests to eat and socialise anywhere on property. Larger versions feature audiovisual components for music, movies, and gaming. Service drones communicate with a bartending robot, overseen by a skilled mixologist, to send out restocked robots when needed.
Respondents said they would pay more for a hotel that offered a Hotel Rover experience and Bed XYZ. The latter, along with Outside In, Inside Out, ranked as top choices for influencing decisions to stay at a hotel.
Ron Swidler, chief innovation officer at The Gettys Group, commented: “The COVID crisis has created a need for answers to questions hotels could not answer on their own. We needed to think beyond room cleaning initiatives and air purifying systems and develop long lasting solutions that addressed health, safety, sanitation, technology, aesthetics and environmental concerns.”
“Covid19 revealed how much we need to embrace not only health and safety measures, but also technology. Innovation comes through collaboration and helps us find solutions for moving the industry forward,” he added.
Key partners in the Hotel of Tomorrow Project include Chad Reynold of Batterii, Gayatri Keskar of Material ConneXion, Matt Phillips of Phillips & Company, and Maxwell Luthy of TrendWatching.
The Gettys Group is a collection of hospitality-focussed companies that help to guide developers, operators and brands in the creation of experiences around the world.
